The present invention relates to a device for attachment to the strings of a tennis racket, where the device is a dampening member to control vibrations to the player, which may effect his/her well being, and a score keeper for the player and the opponent.
Dampening devices to help a tennis or other racket player are well known in the respective sports fields. A shockproof device in a tennis racket, for instance, is very important. It prevents the shock waves from transmitting to the handle of a racket in order to protect the hand of a player and to promote the scores of the player in a competition, especially by those weekend players who do not have a professional trainer or coach. In any case, a hit of a tennis racket against a flying ball can create a great deal of shock waves. If the tennis racket has no shockproof arrangement, the shock waves will transmit to the handle of the racket that injure the hand and wrist of the player which could cause ‘tennis elbow’. Though some new rackets have such devices on the rackets, they are of limited value. Some recent patent developments illustrating and describing vibration dampening devices may be found in the following U.S. patents:
a.) U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,509, to Boschian, is directed to a device for dampening vibrations in strung rackets, including a first pair of opposed plates and a central body portion which connect the plates. The body portion is receivable in the space defined by two pairs of intersecting racket strings such that the plates grip at least two racket strings. The device further includes a second pair of plates removably attachable to the device, each of the second pair of plates being generally parallel and opposed to one of the plates in the first pair. The device further includes means for removably attaching additional plates such that when the device is mounted on a racket there is a series of parallel, opposed plates extending axially from each side of the racket face. Because the plates may be readily added or removed, and may be of different sizes, the vibration dampening effects of the racket may be tuned to meet a particular player's needs.
b.) U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,164, to Hsu, teaches an elastic sheath damper for the tennis racket throat that includes a racket having a frame, a stringing surface in the frame and a throat separated from a handle to respectively form a truncated triangular configuration and a Y-shaped configuration, each of which has a pair of hollow interior branches made engageable with each other and connected by a pair of cylindrical bars by adhesives. The cylindrical bars have a pair of elastic sheaths respectively sleeved on two ends and inserted into the branches, whereby the shock waves from the frame are absorbed twice by the elastic sheaths in the throat without transmitting to the handle.
c.) U.S. Pat. No. 7,012,111, to Kanemitsu et al., relates to a high specific-gravity EPDM composition, having moldability and weather resistant properties, suitable as a dynamic damper mounted on sports goods, such as a tennis racket.
Personal tennis scoring devices are also well known, and can be helpful aids to the week-end tennis players where scoreboards are neither used nor available. Such devices that are commercially available are typically attached to the racket handle or worn by the player about the wrist. Several examples of tennis scoring devices are taught and illustrated in the following U.S. patents:
d.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,122, to Pittner, covers a personal tennis score keeper comprising a strip of sheet material having an upper surface and a lower surface and with the upper surface thereof bearing squares arranged in a linear array and forming three columns, one of the columns bearing indicia indicating the number of games won by a player, another column bearing indicia indicating the number of games won by an opposing player, and the remaining column bearing indicia for indicating a score of each player during a game; and a plurality of scoring markers slidably secured to the strip in a juxtaposed slidable relation with respect to a column for marking a score.
e.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,452, to Haddock et al., is directed to a scoring device for use in racket games. A track member is mounted to a base member by an attachment means which allows relative movement between the base and track members. Scoring indicators move along the track member. An adhesive label is attached to the base member to allow its attachment to a curved surface and more particularly to the curved surface such that of a throat of a racket.
f.) U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,504, to Zarley et al., teaches a tennis scoring device comprising an elongated body member having a longitudinal axis, with a visible tennis scoring indicia secured on the top surface of the body member and extending along the longitudinal axis thereof. The indicia strip is divided into a plurality of duplicate scoring segments representing the scores of the player and the opponent. A pair of slide members are resiliently slidably mounted on the edges of the body member and extend over the indicia strip. An apertures in each of the slide members provides visible access to a given indicia segment. The width of the body member is greater than the normal width of the slide members so that the slide members are slightly expanded upon being mounted on the body member to resiliently hold the slide members in position on the body member.
g.) U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,668, relates to a device for scoring the opposing sides of a tennis match which is adapted to be mounted on the side of a tennis racket handle. A vibration of this device may be employed to keep count of the games won by each side. The device comprises an elongated, flexible, transparent structure which is segmented into two compartments by a seam across its mid section. Enclosed within each compartment is a bead-like chip or marker which is slideably movable therein when the marker is pressed gently. Each chip is held in place by a spring-like action wedging it against the wall of its compartment and preventing it from being moved inadvertently during the game. The structure itself is sandwiched between two strips of film which are adhesively attached together. The outer film layer includes an elongated transparent panel through which each marker may be viewed within its compartment and upon which are imprinted indicia, each of which corresponds to a score in a tennis game. The markers are movable to positions beneath these indicia, which represent the tennis scoring points “love” to “15”, “30” and “40”. When a marker is slid beneath a particular indicia, that marking stands out from its background so that the score can be easily read. Otherwise, the indicia above each compartment and the layer of film disposed beneath it are difficult to distinguish visually from each other.
h.) U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,143, to Van Auken et al., covers a tennis scorekeeping device having a pair of separately formed scorekeeping units adapted to be mounted one each side of a tennis racket handle between the head of the racket and the handle grip of the racket, first manually manipulatable means on one of said units for scoring game points won by opposing players, and second manually manipulatable means on the other of said units for scoring the games won by opposing players.
i.) U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,715, to Glick, is directed to a scoring device capable of being mounted on the handle of a tennis racket with a pair of padlike members, having a series of parallel grooves, which are adhesively mounted to opposite sides of the handle of the racket, the grooves extending in a direction normal to the longitudinal axis of the handle. A resilient band having a pair of beads at diametrically opposed positions on the band is stretched around the handle, the beads being conformed to be seated in one of the recesses of the respective pad members of the handle.
It is apparent from both commercially known products, and those devices of the foregoing prior art that various tennis aids are available to tennis players, but none teach or suggest a convenient and readily usable combination device that offers both scoring and dampening capabilities, particularly as found in the device of the present invention. The manner by which this invention brings together these capabilities will become more apparent from the following specification, especially when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.